God and Government Strike Again--UPDATED

That's the way I would explain the story at the kitchen table. The Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel had the story. Herald reporters Amy Sherman and Todd Wright whipped the competition, with interesting background on the real force behind Back to Basics Military Academy, a man named Reginald Browne:

In 1991, the state ordered Reginald Browne -- now an academy director and husband of principal Lynda Browne -- to stop referring to himself as a psychologist since he wasn't licensed in Florida.

In 1995, Reginald Browne was fired amid allegations of financial mismanagement from his job as CEO of Family Life Institute for Counseling, Education and Research, an agency that counseled at-risk youths.

Nice. And whose money is being used to support this yahoo school? Ours, of course. The state funded this thing with $86,760 (and the Sentinel outreported the Herald on that little matter, it should be said). It's called a faith-based initiative. Browne had the initiative and the state had the (idiotic) faith.

The Diva

-- (NEW) The fiance of the Miami Herald's "Advice Diva" was arrested for cocaine possession while partying on Miami Beach, reports the Herald's Joan Fleischman (thanks to Stuck on the Palmetto for pointing the way). The arrestee, Nicholas D'Annunzio, is both the business partner and fiance of "Diva" Tara Solomon . Read the indomitable Fleischman for the convoluted details -- which include a Jag, a mis-used handicapped permit, a phantom knee injury, and two baggies of white powder. There'll be more on this one, I guarantee.

-- (NEW) It's bad enough that a cop would steal money from the wallets of people he pulls over -- but taking money from migrant workers? What Brian Haas describes in his Sentinel story is so low that it ought to be a capital crime. Here's my suggested punishment for Coconut Creek cop and absolute dirtbag Michael Dunsavage: Make him toil five years in the tomato fields -- and send three-quarters of his eager earnings to the relatives of his co-workers in Mexico at the end of each month.

-- Onto the Palm Beach Post. There were some good stories on there, but I'm boycotting the newspaper this morning. Why? Because when you punch onto their website, you get a huge Wal-Mart ad covering the entire page and you have to find the "close" prompt to get rid of it. It's unseemly, sort of like putting an ad on the front page above the fold of the regular newspaper. On the bright side, I'm sure the Post is making a bundle on the whore-out.

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